"I probably thought (donations were) going to be stronger," said the longtime Chicago sports photographer and founder of the organization, the subject of CSN's "From the Sports World to the Third World: A Journey to Cambodia."

While Mr. Smith stressed his gratitude for a few dozen small PayPal contributions — $25 or $50 apiece — a lot more is needed to keep the foundation running.

"All it takes is a couple people to really step up to the plate to make a difference," he said.

In its first six years, the foundation has grown from Mr. Smith and his wife, Lauren, sponsoring children on their own dime in run-down Phnom Penh, Cambodia, into a two-building refuge for around 100 Cambodian children with a staff of about 20 people.

It costs about $300,000 to run the program each year, despite the power of the U.S. dollar in the region and several employees' making only $200 each month, said Mr. Smith.

The bulk of the funding goes to things like food, clothing and, perhaps most crucially, supporting the kids' parents with money that would normally be brought in by their children scavenging garbage dumps for items of value.

Beyond the basics, there is medical and dental care and security in a hostile environment.

To date, the foundation has raised about $2 million in donations, but nothing groundbreaking in the last three years.

"The problem is keeping kids in the program when there is pressure from parents who desperately need money and need them to work," he said. "It's a struggle for (kids) to focus on their studies."

Born out of an unplanned stop at the Stung Mean Chey garbage dump during Mr. Smith's 2002 trip to Southeast Asia, the foundation primarily aims to provide a better level of education for kids in the grossly impoverished area.

"Our goal is to get the average child who wouldn't have a chance, that would be forever enslaved in a garbage dump, a chance in life to get an education and become, at minimum, a middle class citizen," said Mr. Smith.

Promoting that cause with sparse, donation-centric funding has been tough for the foundation, which has not received any corporate donations outside of help from the Chicago Bulls through the involvement of the team's ticket director, Joe O'Neil.

That could be a route its founders and managing board look to in the future.

"We'd like to, one day, open another center," said Mr. Smith. "But we're far from having the funding to do that."

About 30,000 local households tuned in to watch the documentary when it debuted in mid-November and was reaired on Thanksgiving, according to Comcast SportsNet. It also is available online at CSNChicago.com.

"Feedback has been very positive from our viewers, but the 'awareness' of A New Day Cambodia is more key to success than anything else," said CSN's Sarah Lauch, who produced and edited the documentary.

Comcast SportsNet Chicago has at least one more showing planned, spanning Christmas Eve (part one) and Christmas Day (part two).